Sam Walton was born to Thomas Gibson Walton and Nancy Lee, in Kingfisher, Oklaho

ma. He lived there with his parents on their farm until 1923. However, farming d
id not provide enough money to raise a family, and Thomas Walton went into farm
mortgaging. He worked for his brother's Walton Mortgage Company, which was an ag
ent for Metropolitan Life Insurance[3][4] where he foreclosed on farms during th
e Great Depression.[5]
He and his family (now with another son, James, born in 1921) moved from Oklahom
a. There they moved from one small town to another for several years. While atte
nding eighth grade in Shelbina, Missouri, Sam became the youngest Eagle Scout in
the state's history.[6] In adult life, Walton became a recipient of the Disting
uished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America.[7]
Eventually the family moved to Columbia, Missouri. Growing up during the Great D
epression, he did chores to help make financial ends meet for his family as was
common at the time. He milked the family cow, bottled the surplus, and drove it
to customers. Afterwards, he would deliver Columbia Daily Tribune newspapers on
a paper route. In addition, he also sold magazine subscriptions.[8] Upon graduat
ing from David H. Hickman High School in Columbia, he was voted "Most Versatile
Boy."
After high school, Walton decided to attend college, hoping to find a better way
to help support his family. He attended the University of Missouri as an ROTC c
adet. During this time, he worked various odd jobs, including waiting tables in
exchange for meals. Also during his time in college, Walton joined the Zeta Phi
chapter of Beta Theta Pi fraternity. He was also tapped by QEBH, the well-known
secret society on campus honoring the top senior men, and the national military
honor society Scabbard and Blade. Additionally, Walton served as President of Bu
rall Bible Class, a large class of students from the University of Missouri and
Stephens College.[9] Upon graduating in 1940 with a bachelor's degree in economi
cs, he was voted "permanent president" of the class.[10]
Walton joined J. C. Penney as a management trainee in Des Moines, Iowa,[10] thre
e days after graduating from college.[8] This position paid him $75 a month. Wal
ton spent approximately 18 months with J. C. Penney.[11] He resigned in 1942 in
anticipation of being inducted into the military for service in World War II.[8]
In the meantime, he worked at a DuPont munitions plant near Tulsa, Oklahoma. So
on afterwards, Walton joined the military in the U.S. Army Intelligence Corps, s
upervising security at aircraft plants and prisoner of war camps. In this positi
on he served at Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City, Utah. He eventually reached the
rank of Captain.
The first stores[edit]
In 1945, after leaving the military, Walton took over management of his first va
riety store at the age of 26. With the help of a $20,000 loan from his father-in
-law, plus $5,000 he had saved from his time in the Army, Walton purchased a Ben
Franklin variety store in Newport, Arkansas.[8] The store was a franchise of th
e Butler Brothers chain.
Walton pioneered many concepts that became crucial to his success. Walton made s
ure the shelves were consistently stocked with a wide range of goods. His second
store, the tiny "Eagle" department store, was down the street from his first Be
n Franklin and next door to its main competitor in Newport.
With the sales volume growing from $80,000 to $225,000 in three years, Walton dr
ew the attention of the landlord, P. K. Holmes, whose family had a history in re
tail.[12] Admiring Sam's great success, and desiring to reclaim the store (and f
ranchise rights) for his son, he refused to renew the lease. The lack of a renew
al option, together with the prohibitively high rent of 5% of sales, were early
business lessons to Walton. Despite forcing Walton out, Holmes bought the store'

s inventory and fixtures for $50,000, which Walton called "a fair price".[13]
Walton's Five and Dime, now the Wal-Mart Visitors Center, Bentonville.
With a year left on the lease, but the store effectively sold, he, his wife Hele
n and his father-in-law managed to negotiate the purchase of a new location on t
he downtown square of Bentonville, Arkansas. Walton negotiated the purchase of a
small discount store, and the title to the building, on the condition that he g
et a 99-year lease to expand into the shop next door. The owner of the shop next
door refused six times, and Walton gave up on Bentonville when his father-in-la
w, without Sam's knowledge, paid the shop owner a final visit and $20,000 to sec
ure the lease. He had just enough left from the sale of the first store to close
the deal, and reimburse Helen's father. They opened for business with a one-day
remodeling sale on May 9, 1950.[12]
Before he bought the Bentonville store, it was doing $72,000 in sales and it inc
reased to $105,000 in the first year and then $140,000 and $175,000.[14]
A chain of Ben Franklin stores[edit]
With the new Bentonville "Five and Dime" opening for business, and 220 miles awa
y, a year left on the lease in Newport, the money-strapped young Walton had to l
earn to delegate responsibility.[15][16]
After succeeding with two stores at such a distance (and with the postwar baby b
oom in full effect), Sam became enthusiastic about scouting more locations and o
pening more Ben Franklin franchises. (Also, having spent countless hours behind
the wheel, and with his close brother James "Bud" Walton having been a pilot in
the war, he decided to buy a small second-hand airplane. Both he and his son Joh
n would later become accomplished pilots and log thousands of hours scouting loc
ations and expanding the family business.)[15]
In 1954, he opened a store with his brother Bud in a shopping center in Ruskin H
eights, a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. With the help of his brother and fath
er-in-law, Sam went on to open many new variety stores. He encouraged his manage
rs to invest and take an equity stake in the business, often as much as $1000 in
their store, or the next outlet to open. (This motivated the managers to sharpe
n their managerial skills and take ownership over their role in the enterprise.)
[15] By 1962, along with his brother Bud, he owned 16 stores in Arkansas, Missou
ri, and Kansas (fifteen Ben Franklins and one independent, in Fayetteville).[17]
The first Wal-Mart[edit]
Main article: History of Wal-Mart
The first true Wal-Mart opened on July 2, 1962, in Rogers, Arkansas.[18] Called
the Wal-Mart Discount City store, it was located at 719 West Walnut Street. He l
aunched a determined effort to market American-made products. Included in the ef
fort was a willingness to find American manufacturers who could supply merchandi
se for the entire Wal-Mart chain at a price low enough to meet the foreign compe
tition.[19]
As another chain store grew, Meijer, it caught the attention of Walton. He ackno
wledges that his one-stop-shopping center format was based on Meijer s innovative
concept.[20] Contrary to the prevailing practice of American discount store chai
ns, Walton located stores in smaller towns, not larger cities. To make his model
work, he emphasized logistics, particularly locating stores within a day's driv
e proximity to Wal-Mart's regional warehouses, and distributed through its own t
rucking service. Buying in volume and efficient delivery permitted sale of disco
unted name brand merchandise. Thus, sustained growth from 1977's 190 stores to 19
85's 800 was achieved.[10]
Personal life[edit]

[icon] This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (September 2
009)
Walton married Helen Robson on February 14, 1943.[8] They had four children: Sam
uel Robson (Rob) born in 1944, John Thomas (1946 2005), James Carr (Jim) born in 1
948, and Alice Louise born in 1949.[21] Walton supported various charitable caus
es. He and Helen were active in the Bentonville Church of Christ; Sam served as
an Elder and a Sunday School teacher, teaching high school age students.[22] The
family made substantial contributions to the congregation.

Death[edit]
Walton died on Sunday, April 5, 1992, of multiple myeloma, a type of blood cance
r, in Little Rock, Arkansas.[23] The news of his death was relayed by satellite
to all 1,960 Wal-Mart stores.[24] At the time, his company employed 380,000 peop
le. Annual sales of nearly $50 billion flowed from 1,735 Wal-Marts, 212 Sam s Club
s, and 13 Supercenters.[10]
His remains are interred at the Bentonville Cemetery.[25]
He left his ownership in Wal-Mart to his wife and their children: Rob Walton suc
ceeded his father as the Chairman of Wal-Mart, and John Walton was a director un
til his death in a 2005 plane crash. The others are not directly involved in the
company (except through their voting power as shareholders), however his son Ji
m Walton is chairman of Arvest Bank. The Walton family held five spots in the to
p ten richest people in the United States until 2005. Two daughters of Sam's bro
ther Bud Walton, Ann Kroenke and Nancy Laurie, hold smaller shares in the compan
y.
Legacy[edit]
In 1998, Walton was included in Time's list of 100 most influential people of th
e 20th Century.[26] Walton was honored for all his capitalist efforts in retail
in March 1992, when he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President
George H. W. Bush.[24]
Forbes ranked Sam Walton as the richest person in the United States from 1982 to
1988, ceding the top spot to John Kluge in 1989 when the editors began to credi
t Walton's fortune jointly to him and his four children.[27] (Bill Gates first h
eaded the list in 1992, the year Walton died). Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. also runs S
am's Club warehouse stores. Walmart operates in the U.S. and in 15 international
markets, including Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, El Salv
ador, Guatemala, Honduras, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua and the United Kingdom.[28]
At the University of Arkansas, the Business College (Sam M. Walton College of Bu
siness) is named in his honor. Walton was inducted into the Junior Achievement U
.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1992.[29]